Currently available pneumatic tires are designed to perform for relatively long periods of time. In many cases, automobile tires are now expected to have a useful service life of 30,000, 50,000 or 70,000 miles. However, even long-life pneumatic tires are subject to failure due to puncture by nails and other sharp objects.
In response to consumer distress over flat tires and the associated ordeal of changing the damaged tire, tire sealant and inflator compositions together with associated delivery devices have been developed. The inflator and sealant compositions are typically packaged in a relatively small metal container of the type known to consumers as an “aerosol can”. The inflator and sealant compositions generally include a condensed, i.e. ‘liquified’, gas containing a glue-like sealant material. A sufficient quantity of condensed gas is typically provided in the container so that as the liquid changes state to a gas upon discharge from the interior of the container into a flat tire, it expands with sufficient volume and force to re-inflate the tire to a drivable condition. At the same time, the glue-like sealant material is distributed onto the interior surface of the tire and “finds” the puncture in the tire because of pressurized gas leaking through the puncture. This, in turn allows the sealant material to react with air and seal the puncture.
Since these self-contained tire inflating and sealant products are portable and can be stored in a vehicle's trunk for use in an emergency, and because many of these devices have proven reliable and relatively easy to use, the devices have achieved enormous commercial success, with sales amounting to millions of dollars annually. In a relatively short period of time these devices have generated an industry, such that numerous companies presently manufacture and supply large quantities of portable tire inflating products. These products are regularly stocked in a wide variety of retail stores throughout the United States and other countries.
Over the years, various changes have been made in inflator and sealant compositions.
Substantial changes have also been made to the delivery systems for discharging the inflator and sealant compositions into damaged tires. One delivery system that has been sold with considerable commercial success is known in the trade as the “cone top” system. The cone top system includes a cone shaped actuator assembly, typically formed of a plastic or another relatively rigid material, mounted onto the container holding the inflator and sealant composition under pressure. This actuator is positioned over the conventional valve stem of the container which controls release of the materials from the container. The cone-shaped actuator extends upwardly from the end of the pressurized container and terminates at an exterior end configured for attachment to the valve stem of a pneumatic tire. The cone top actuator also includes an internal valve linkage assembly that mechanically connects the interior of the container to the interior of the tire as the delivery end of the actuator is connected to valve stem of the tire by simultaneously opening both the aerosol valve and the tire valve.
The cone top tire inflating dispensing systems, and similar mechanical linkage dispensing systems, are found in practice to suffer from various problems. For example, these dispensers can be difficult for the consumer to use because of the amount of turning required to connect the container to the tire, and container leakage due to various problems can also be problematic. For example, the minor difference in shape between the aerosol valve pedestal (on the top of the container body) and the inner surface of the cone top actuator, can cause leakage within the actuator nozzle during the actuation cycle. In some cases, the press fit connection between the skirt of the actuator and the metal crimp on the container body can be too loose with the result that the actuator cannot be threaded onto the tire valve. In other cases, cross-threading of the actuator top onto the tire valve complicates or prevents removal of the actuator from the tire valve following use of the product. In addition, because the actuator nozzle is rigid, relatively short and wide, it cannot readily be attached to valve stems found on some configurations of tires and wheels, e.g., spoked wheels, or wheels with spoked covers.
Still further, because of the inflexible construction of the automatically acting dispensing systems, and because the pressurized containers are designed for use in a predetermined orientation, either upright or inverted, proper use of the product requires the stem of a flat tire be oriented within a relatively narrow range of acceptable positions. Operation in the predetermined orientation is required because aerosol-type containers, including those used to dispense inflator and sealant materials, are normally designed to dispense materials from either the top or bottom of the container. Tire inflator products designed to dispense from the bottom of the container include a dip tube extending from the interior end of the container valve body downwardly into a lower portion of the pressurized container and dispense the condensed gas and sealant from the pressurized container when the pressurized container is held in an upright position. Products designed to dispense from the top of the container include relatively short dip tubes which terminate in an upper portion of the pressurized container, or do not have a dip tube, and dispense the condensed gas and sealant from the pressurized container when the pressurized container is held in an inverted position. In either case, if the container is held in the wrong position when the valve is actuated, headspace gas can be dispensed instead of a gas-concentrate mixture of the inflator and sealant compound.
Accordingly, the pressurized container must be properly oriented, according to instructions on the can body, in order that the condensed gas and sealant be properly dispensed. The rigidity of the nozzle of the automatic, mechanical linkage type dispensing systems, however, requires that the container body be oriented in the direction of the tire's valve stem as the nozzle is attached to the tire. In turn, this requires that the valve stem of the tire be properly positioned facing either upwardly or downwardly so that the container can be properly oriented as directed on the container. However, some consumers do not read and/or follow directions for the tire inflating devices and, consequently, do not properly position the valve stem of the flat tire to allow proper operation of the container. In other cases, consumers either will not or are hesitant to move a vehicle having a flat tire in order to properly position the valve stem of the deflated tire to allow proper operation of the tire inflating device.
Due to these and other problems, the majority of the tire inflating products are now sold in combination with conduit-type dispensing stems which were first introduced in about the early 1980's. The conduit-type actuators used in these products employ a side oriented actuator overlying the valve stem of the pressurized container that includes an internal fluid passageway connecting the valve stem with a port in a sidewall of the actuator body. The actuator also includes a trigger tab overlying the valve stem of the container which is designed to move the valve stem to open position upon application of manual pressure thereto, by e.g. the finger or thumb of the consumer.
A relatively long flexible conduit is connected at one end to the actuator body for dispensing the discharged contents of the container. The second end of the flexible conduit includes a threaded coupling designed for attachment to the valve stem of a pneumatic tire. In separate steps, the consumer attaches the conduit to the valve stem of the tire, and then depresses the trigger of the actuator to initiate discharge of the inflator and sealant composition into the tire. In view of the long conduit, attachment of the device to valve stems of spoked wheels is easier. The long flexible conduit also allows the container to be maintained in the proper orientation, (normally upright), regardless of the orientation of tire's valve stem. These tire inflating products have also been found in practice to substantially reduce the leakage problems associated with the automatically acting cone top dispensers.
The benefits associated with the conduit-type tire inflator products have been substantial and have resulted in widespread acceptance of the conduit-type products by tire inflation product manufacturers, retailers, and especially consumers. Thus, the improved reliability, the reduction in defects and leakage problems, and enhanced ease of use by the consumer, have in actual practice, apparently offset the problems of added manual labor, increased manufacturing time and costs, and the handling difficulties associated with these products.
However, one significant problem with the inflator products is that they must be manually connected to the valve stem and activated to cause the sealing and inflating compound to flow from the can through the conduit into the interior of the tire. This requires a driver to first be made aware of the presence of a punctured or ruptured tire, then stop and exit the vehicle and then retrieve the inflator product, connect it to the valve stem, activate it and then once the tire is inflated, disconnect the product from the valve stem. These steps introduce a rather large degree of labor into the sealing and inflating process.
Another problem with the inflator products described above is that as the sealant has a quality guaranteed term, after the expiration, it is condemned. Further, it is difficult to reuse an aerosol can, therefore the recycling efficiency is low. Furthermore, the propellants such as hydrocarbon propellant, chlorofluorocarbon propellant and hydrochlorofluorocarbon propellant more or less contribute to depletion of the earth's ozone layer. Recognizing a demand for a reusable container for a tire puncture sealant, a container capable of extending a quality guaranteed term, and a system being capable of injecting the sealant into a flat tire without using a propellant, prior art systems were developed. The prior art systems address this problem by providing a tire puncture sealant set comprising a bottle having a body and a threaded neck portion provided with an outlet, a puncture sealant in the bottle, an inside plug put into the outlet, an outer cap screwed onto the neck portion for covering the inside plug, an injector replaceable with the outer cap, a side wall of the body having a triple layered structure of an inner layer, an outer layer and a middle layer therebetween made of a gas barrier resin so that the body is squeezable by hand. The inside plug includes a breakable partition wall separating the inside of the bottle from the outside. The injector comprises an adapter cap screwable onto the neck portion, a sticking pipe for piercing the breakable partition wall into the inside of the bottle, and a hose for injecting the sealant into a pneumatic tire.
It would be desirable to provide a tire sealant and inflator which does not require a driver to exit his or her vehicle in order to inject a tire sealant and inflating compound into the tire to seal a rupture in the tire and then inflate the thus-sealed tire.